The Canadian government is ignoring U.S. warnings that a flood of bogus military parts from China has been discovered in American-made fighter jets, transport planes, missiles and other weapons, potentially putting the lives of Armed Forces personnel at risk.

A 14-month U.S. Congressional investigation uncovered 1,800 cases of counterfeit electronic components for American military equipment, in total involving over one million bogus parts.

The investigation reported a failure of the fake parts could have caused missiles to go haywire, or left military transport pilots staring at blank instrument panels in mid-flight.

The Canadian military recently bought 17 of the same Hercules transport planes.

The probe by the powerful U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee found the bogus parts are typically from discarded computers and other electronic trash being recycled in China, and have high failure rates with potentially "catastrophic" results.

"At this point in time, other than continuing to be vigilant, we don't have any particular concerns in this country," Fantino tells CBC News.

Fantino's reaction is puzzling defence experts who say the Canadian military has to be equally at risk of bogus parts getting into critical equipment.

They point out Canada buys a majority of its military equipment, spare parts and other gear from the same American defence contractors used by the U.S. military, many of which are cited in the congressional investigation.

More at link

Makes one wonder why we aren't taking this warning seriously....

« Last Edit: January 09, 2013, 22:08:58 by milnews.ca »

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“He who cannot put his thoughts on ice should not enter into the heat of dispute.” ~ Nietzsche ~

1) If true (and since this is American politics we are talking about, I have my concerns. After all, these are the same people that declared pizza a vegtable ) there is little we can really do about it. We do not have the infrastructure or PY's to even attempt our own audit like this.

2) One possibility is that the amount of high-tech stuff we have is considerably less than the US forces. If we have black market chips in the DAGR's, are we really going to notice? They can't really suck more than they allready do. New planes and ships aside, the US is just a lot more reliant on technology than we are so this potential threat is going to be higher for them.

In response to recent media reports on the presence of alleged counterfeit parts in Canada’s CC-130J Hercules aircraft, I would like to reiterate that, as with any piece of Canadian Armed Forces equipment, safety is paramount. Whether our aircraft are made in Canada or imported, there are rigorous processes to track their components and ensure they are safe to fly.

Lockheed Martin, the CC-130J Hercules’ manufacturer, has determined there are no safety concerns and no flight limitations to our aircraft as a result of alleged counterfeit parts. When this issue became known, the Department of National Defence (DND) conducted an independent assessment that concurred with Lockheed Martin’s conclusion.

The alleged parts are microchips located in cockpit and cargo display units installed by Lockheed Martin during production. The assessments carried out to date confirm that the aircraft can be flown safely using the primary flight instruments, or alternatively, with the standby analog flight gauges. The high degree of redundancy in the aircraft systems, combined with DND’s excellent airworthiness program, mean that our Royal Canadian Air Force pilots and aircrews remain completely confident in the safety of this fleet.

We will continue to closely monitor the status of these systems, and in the event any parts are determined to be non-serviceable, we will take steps to ensure they are replaced. The CC-130 Hercules is the workhorse of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s transport fleet, with different variants of the aircraft in service since the early 1960s. Since the first of Canada’s 17 CC-130Js were welcomed into service in 2010, the fleet has served in multiple operations domestically and abroad. Canadians can rest assured that the Royal Canadian Air Force holds the safety of its military air crew - and the Canadian public - in the highest regard.

Lieutenant-General Yvan BlondinCommander – Royal Canadian Air Force

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"The risk of insult is the price of clarity." Roy H. Williams

The words I share here are my own, not those of anyone else or anybody I may be affiliated with.

There's nothing new about counterfeit a/c parts. Every technician is trained to evaluate the parts he's/she's using. Anything suspect is discarded. From time to time every air force encounters bad parts with the words "Made in China" somehow attached to them. Given that, I have to agree with the CAD. The risk to the RCAF is relatively minor.

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Just because an opinion differs doesn't make it any less valid. Remember those who gave their ALL to guarantee freedom of speech.